Presentation by Dr. Kevin Lasher

Old people vote more than young people Highly educated individuals vote more than less educated individuals Wealthy people vote more than poor people. Partisans/ideologues vote more than non-partisans.

US Turnout in Last Twenty Years 50-59% in presidential elections 30-39% in off-year elections Voting Age Population (VAP) Figures

1)Nature of elections 2)Weak political parties 3)Tuesday Voting 4)Registration laws 5)Apathetic citizens

Nature of elections

Numerous elections and many offices “Election overload” Educational differences point to the complexity of American elections Parliamentary systems may have one or two votes Multi-party systems have higher turnout than two party systems

Weak Political Parties Republicans and Democrats are NOT in the “turnout maximization” business; they are in the business of winning elections

Weak Political Parties 100 million voters 110 million voters 120 million voters Get 50.1%

Weak Political Parties Dem 43% Dem 34% Indep 23% Indep40% Repub 32% Repub 26%

Weak Political Parties Independents are much less likely to vote on election day than partisans (Republicans or Democrats)

Weak Political Parties Both parties have put more emphasis on voter mobilization in the last years; may account for slight increase in turnout in last few elections

Tuesday Voting Raises “costs” of voting 1872 congressional law placing second Tuesday in November Many countries vote on week- ends Create a National Voting Day (every two years) Holiday or week-end voting might increase turnout by 5-7%

Registration Laws You must be registered to vote in order to vote “Costly” to register Used to be many restrictions on registration (most eliminated) It is VERY EASY to register to vote in Motor Voter Law which enabled registration in many government offices

Registration Laws Registration rates have risen BUT percentage of registered who actually vote has fallen So easy to register that we have included a lot of “iffy” potential voters

Same Day Registration

Nine states used SDR in 2012 election SDR States69% Non-SDR States58% Every state using SDR would add 5-7% in overall turnout

Same Day Registration States with highest turnout in 2012 MINNESOTA*76.4% WISCONSIN*72.9% NEW HAMPSHIRE*70.9% IOWA*70.6% MAINE*69.3% Vermont67.7% Maryland 67.3% Virginia66.5% * SDR state

Apathetic Citizens No mandatory voting in US People are free to exercise their “right” to not vote

Apathetic Citizens Alienated citizens who are turned off by the nature of political campaigns or who honestly do not like the two main choices they are given These alienated voters could be “mobilized” with better campaigns (or better candidates)

Apathetic Citizens Truly apathetic citizens who do not care about politics Nothing will convince these people to participate (and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing)

Apathetic Citizens “Perfect voting turnout system” … % Turnout ?